In April Clewborough House School in Frimley applied to Surrey Heath Borough Council for permission to add another 110 places to the school roll, taking its capacity to 360 students.

But the planning committee voted to turn down the application, for reasons a planning inspector subsequently found were unjustifiable, and the school was forced to waste precious resources in fighting the decision.

At the original planning meeting some residents had expressed their concern about added traffic congestion along St Catherine’s Road and the danger it could present to youngsters walking to school.

The planning committee agreed and went against their own officer’s recommendations by refusing the application.

However, the planning inspector who heard the appeal agreed with the officers that the small increase in traffic caused by extending the pupil roll could be managed by existing traffic calming measures that the school had already put in along St Catherine’s Road.

Edward Clark (pictured), principal at Clewborough House School, said: “We are delighted with the inspector’s decision, we have been trying to push through this application for a couple of years now.

“It is very important for the future of the school that we are allowed to increase the numbers. We can take up to 20 pupils per class and we want to be able to fully develop our potential.”

He added that the council’s refusal had mystified him as he could see no reason why they should oppose the application.

“Their decision was completely unfounded, their own planning officers had done months of research into the highways implications and recommended that it should be passed.

“The appeal decision shows that this was the case.”

He added: “Appeals cost money but we were advised after the initial refusal that we were sure to win so we decided to go ahead with it.

“However, this was a waste of thousands of pounds. Had the committee listened in the first place we could have saved the school that money.”

In his report the planning inspector who heard the case said that he found “no conflict with the development plan, or harm to matters of acknowledged importance” by increasing the pupil numbers at the school.

He added: “In reaching this conclusion I have had regard to the various matters raised by those local residents who wrote objecting to the application and requesting that the appeal be dismissed.

“To my mind, none of the matters raised either individually or collectively would rightly justify refusing planning permission to increase the pupil numbers to the extent requested.”

Cllr David Whitcroft, leader of the Liberal Democrats at SHBC, defended the planning committee’s decision and said that they had no regrets.

“We are disappointed with the outcome of the appeal because the impact on the traffic will be considerable and we hope very sincerely that no accidents occur as a result.

“The inspector has made a subjective judgment which we disagree with, the problem with appeals is that an inspector comes down for one day to make a decision whereas the residents actually live in the area.”

He added that residents wanted to see the school be successful and flourish in the community, despite their opposition to the application.

As for wasting the school’s money, he said: “What we have here is a perfectly reasonable application of the planning regime, if the system is followed as it was here then that cannot be criticised.”